The Forgotten Witch
by Serena Wronski
Summary: What happens to a witch or wizard when their parents successfully turn down Hogwarts and the prospective student leads a muggle life? Do they truly become a muggle or could they just...pop up in the magical world? I think you know the answer to that.
1. Gallons, you say?

**A/N:** I give in! Here's my Harry Potter fic. Bleh. If a certain someone reads this, (and I am confident that you know who you are) don't you dare say a word about me writing a little HP ditty...... Unless it's a very pleasantly surprised word. Moving on. I hope you all enjoy this. It was born from a character that I've known for a very long time. And finally, she wanted her story written. This will also reveal the origin of my pen name, which I was very reluctant to do. Again, however, this character was ardent about what she wanted to be written. [sigh]. But I do thank her for graciously allowing me to write under her lovely name.

Disclaimer: **CAUTION**: flammable. Keep away from flame or high heat. (taken from a Bath and Body coconut lime body splash bottle.)

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Chapter One: 'Gallons, you say?'

"One pint of Dragon's Breath? Right. That'll be up shortly." Tom turned away from the weathered old man at the bar counter and began mixing drink ingredients. He'd only just finished stirring it with a thin spoon when the bell above the door gave an airy tingle. "Be right with you," Tom said absently as he handed over the mug of piping hot Dragon's Breath. He turned to the door and smiled at the young woman entering.

She pulled back the hood of a navy traveling cloak that was speckled in melting snowflakes. "The weather's absolutely ghastly out there," she said with a laugh. Her demeanor was quite friendly but Tom was sure he'd never seen her in the Leaky Cauldron before.

He nodded politely. "What can I get for you this evening?"

She hopped onto one of the bar stools and began studying the drink menu. "Quite an, ah, interesting selection you have."

Tom beamed. He'd invented a good number of the drinks listed on the menu. No one else in the world could supply a rather tangy yet soothing selection such as the Electric Bubble, Tom's personal favorite among his own concoctions. But, Tom noted as he looked the girl over, she was undoubtedly too young for an alcoholic beverage.

"Ah," she finally said, "how about a mug of hot tea?" Tom smiled at this very age appropriate order and turned away to fix it.

At last, the young lady took a moment to relax. She surveyed the near empty pub with a great deal of interest. It was different from anywhere she'd ever stopped at before in a way that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Perhaps it had something to do with the toothless bar tender and his obscure, homemade drinks. Or maybe it was the other customers in the place. Though there were only three occupants besides her, they were as intriguing as a cram packed pub.

The man nearest her had a black hood that pulled all the way over his forehead. A few stray and frizzled gray hairs found their way out of his hood and created an ominous curtain that shielded his face from view. The only part of his skin that showed was his hands, bent and wrinkled though they were, grasping a silver mug. The man himself was not the captivating part of this picture. It was his drink that had snagged the girl's eye. Blue flames licked gaily at the rim of his mug and, every now and again, the old man would take a sip of the flames. But no, no one could drink _real_ flame. It had to be some optical illusion. Yes, that would be it. People today can make anything seem like something it's clearly not. So he really wasn't actually very interesting after all. The girl resolutely turned her back to the old man, determined to study the other customers. Behind her, the flame drinker gave a soft belch. To the girl, it sounded like a completely normal bodily function. Fortunately, she had not seen the puff of smoke that emerged with it.

The girl now found herself facing a graying woman poring over a rather ancient looking book by the dim light of a candle. She was definitely alone, but she was muttering furiously under her breath, repeating the same few words over and over. Meanwhile, she curiously waved her right arm systematically with an occasional flick of her wrist at various moments. The young lady at the bar couldn't help but feel sorry for this woman. She obviously has some sort of.....problem. But the mumbling woman seemed happy enough. The young lady smiled and swiveled on her barstool to look at the third customer.

He was in the farthest corner of the dimly lit pub, staring determinedly at a goblet sitting on the table in front of him. He looked fairly young. In fact, he was probably only a little older than the girl looking at him. But at the same time, he appeared old from the dark bags under his eyes and very untidy hair that obviously had stressed fingers anxiously comb through it multiple times. He heaved and enormous breath, which could be seen all the way across the bar, and snatched the goblet from his table.

In a matter of seconds, he drank whatever was in it and slammed the goblet back down on the table. He clenched his eyes shut, looking like he was going to be sick for a moment. But the moment passed and he rose from his seat, cup in hand, and walked toward the counter with a relieved smile.

The girl on the stool nearly choked as the man she'd been observing came straight at her. She hurriedly spun back to face the counter and noticed her tea steaming in front of her. She could have kicked herself. She'd been so engrossed in spying on other people that she hadn't even heard ton bring her tea. The girl craned her neck to look around the room. Now Tom seemed to have disappeared. Pity. She'd wanted to ask him what the price of a room was. The young woman took a sip of her tea with closed eyes. Her body was instantly warmed. This was the best cup of tea she'd ever tasted!

At that instant, the young man with the goblet sat down on the bar stool next to her. He twirled the empty goblet in his hands until he eventually resolved to set it down. Then, he turned to the girl. "Evening," He said. "Getting ready to go back to school at Hogwarts?"

The girl fought away a scowl. She didn't know where this 'Hogwarts' school was but she was absolutely positive of one thing. "No. Definitely no. I've been out of school for a while."

"Oh. Sorry," The man said. And he really did look sorry. "It's just that you look so-"

"Young." She sighed. "Yes, I get that a lot. I know I'll be wishing I got it more in 20 years."

"How old are you? If you don't mind me asking....."

"19."

"Well, if it's any consolation," the young man said, "I get so worn out sometimes that I've been offered a senior citizens discount before."

The girl highly doubted that, but she could understand where someone could get off thinking this man was a number of years beyond his true age. Today must have been one of those tired days he spoke of. "How old are you?" The girl's curiosity had been peaked.

"23," She wouldn't have guessed much older. Maybe 26 or 27, but not a senior by any means. "My name's Remus Lupin." He said suddenly, extending his hand.

"Serena Wronski." She shook the outstretched hand with a smile.

Remus raised his eyebrows in thought. "That name is so familiar, but I'm sure we've never met before....." He fell silent after that, mentally contemplating with himself on whether or not he should perhaps ask Serena for lunch tomorrow in Diagon Alley. Remus just knew she would love the little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that he went to on a regular basis. From what he'd learned of her in the past minutes, he would teasingly offer her a selection off the children's menu. Then she might point out the senior's special of the day for Remus and..... Was he mad? What was Remus doing, thinking all this out. 'Just ask!' he silently shouted at himself. "Er, Serena, tomorrow, around noon- that is if you aren't busy, ah, I was thinking that you might like to-"

"Anything else I can get you? Remus? Ma'am?" said Tom, who had unexpectedly appeared in front of them.

Remus sighed. He'd have to work up to courage to ask later. "No thanks, Tom," he said, sliding the empty goblet into Tom's hand.

"How was your potion?" asked Tom. He began wiping out the goblet with a rag as he spoke.

A very pleasant smile flashed across Remus' face. "Absolutely disgusting, as usual."

Serena wondered if Remus was joking, but from the look on his face after he drank that potion, she supposed not. She looked to Tom, expecting him to be insulted, but he wasn't. Quite the contrary, Tom acted very pleased with himself and turned to Serena expectantly. "The tea was wonderful," she said, "but I was just curious how much a room for the night would cost."

"5 Galleons and 4 sickles for a one bed room," said Tom automatically as if he'd repeated the phrase on every standard day.

Serena sighed. "I'll have to go to the bank in the morning. Everyone is using a different currency these days and I only have pounds. Now, what did you call that money? Gallons, was it?"

Absently, Tom nodded as he shared a shocked look with Remus. If this girl didn't know what a Galleon was then she obviously wasn't a witch. But how had she seen the bewitched little sign at the Leaky Cauldron's entrance? Only witches and wizards could see that. "Er, well, I need to go Flo- I mean- phone my, uh, my someone." He shifted awkwardly and turned to exit to a back room.

Remus stole a glance at Serena to see if she'd noticed the abrupt change in Tom's behavior. She'd produced a bank booklet from her pocket and had busied herself flipping through it. "I don't think my bank transfers to those Gallon things."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Remus said sympathetically. There would be no use in trying to explain things or even asking Serena out at this point. She wouldn't remember any of it by morning. No doubt Tom was contacting the ministry by floo. They'd be here any minute to perform memory charms on Serena and escort her to a muggle hotel. She wouldn't even remember meeting Remus when they were through with her.

Remus was right. In less than a minute's time, 2 men dressed in muggle attire emerged from the back room with Tom. He pointed the men in Serena's direction and stepped back.

"Miss," the taller of the two addressed her, "My name is Norman Hyde. This is my partner John Roberts." The man called Roberts nodded curtly. He came across as very well to do and proper like, with his black blazer and solid colored tie. Roberts did not speak, but pulled a quill and parchment from his blazer pocket and stared at his colleague.

"We need to ask you a few questions," Mr. Norman Hyde continued. "What is your name?"

"Serena Wronski. W-R-O-N-S-K-I." She looked at Remus, bewildered. He avoided her eyes.

"How did you know about The Leaky Cauldron? Did a friend tell you where it was? A relative, perhaps?"

"No," she replied, "I arrived in London today and needed an affordable place to stay to wait out this storm. I just happened to see The Leaky Cauldron as I was leaving the bookshop just next door." Mr. Hyde looked at Mr. Roberts with an undeterminable expression. They both nodded. "Have I don something wrong?" Serena asked as Mr. Hyde turned back to face her.

"No," he said. "Mystery as it is, Tom, this muggle somehow wandered in here by pure mistake. You said she had no idea what Galleons were?"

Tom shook his head.

Hyde was staring directly at Serena but talking as if she weren't even in the same room. "John, go ahead and perform the memory modification."

Roberts silently tucked away his writing materials and pulled out a thin, cylinder shaped piece of wood. Would he hit her with that until she couldn't remember anything at all? Serena didn't know what this memory modification was, but it didn't sound good. "No!" she snapped, meriting the attention of the other customers.

Roberts ignored her and started to murmur something as he twirled the cylinder stick. "Memora-"

"NO!" Serena bellowed, with much more force, as her hand instinctively rose to protect her face.

To her great surprise, Roberts did stop, but not because of Serena's command. The wooden stick that was between Roberts' fingers had slipped away and was pulled by something like a strong magnetic force into Serena's raised hand. Roberts stared at his own empty fingers in open-mouthed shock. He must have slipped up and said the presentation incantation. It was easy to get the two mixed up.....although he'd never done that before. But it had been a long day. And that had to be it. He'd simply fetch his wand and then he could do the correct spell. Roberts thought The girl would forget that anything had happened at all.....

How very wrong he was.

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[bum bum BUM]

A/N: I have more of this but I want to know if people are interested or not. Let me know. Review please! It makes my whole life worthwhile. 'Sad life,' you say. Well, yes. That's why you should review and make my sad life a little less sad.


	2. What Do You See?

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A/N: Well, it's been a while. I decided that I really like this fic though, so I'm going on with it. I hope this chapter sparks some more interest! It's fun to write, hope it's fun to read. Pyscho8, as my sole reviewer, this one's for you.

**Disclaimer: To avoid contamination, never touch dropper tip of bottle to any surface. Keep container tightly closed when not in use.**

Reviewer (s):

Pyscho8- thanks for the comment! If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't even bother adding to this. I'm really glad that you can identify with Serena (minus the witch part). I hope you like her as the story continues.

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Chapter 2

"What Do You See?"

The next few minutes were lost to confusion in a tremendous brawl; John Roberts began pulling at Serena's hand in a very elementary sort of way while crying, "My wand! Give it! Give it!"

Seeing that Roberts' flashback to his primary years would not prevail, Hyde whipped a darker colored wand from his pocket but, in the process, elbowed Remus in the face and sent him sprawling backwards onto the floor.

Only when Serena saw the horrible glare on Hyde's face and his upraised wooden wand did she open the fist that Roberts' wand had been tightly clutched in. However, it did not fall from her hand. Instead, it stuck to her palm like glue. Roberts persisted to grab the thin cylinder and pull with all his might, but it would not budge. He gave on final tug, to no avail one might add, and lost his balance.

Roberts fell into Hyde, who fell on top of Tom, who fell to the floor. In the end, Serena realized that she was the sole person left in an upright position. Then, and only then, did the wand drop from Serena's palm and clatter to the floor.

After a moment prolonged by a stunned silence (save for the wand, rolling slowly in a half circle at Serena's feet), Roberts scrambled up. "Give – me – back – my – WAND!" he snarled.

Very cautiously, Serena bent to pick it up. Then Roberts seemed to remember what had happened last time Serena touched his wand. "NO! Wait!" Roberts called, diving onto the counter in an attempt to catch her arm. Serena immediately jumped away. Most unfortunate for Mr. Roberts, whose feet tumbled haphazardly over his head as he flipped over the counter.

The Ministry men were in an outrage, Tom sat dazed in the corner and Remus Lupin slammed a few coins on the counter. "Keep the change," he called to Tom, grabbing Serena's arm and making for the back door and into a dark alley. Serena nearly fell over a metal trashcan, but she steadied herself as Remus pulled out one of the wand things and tapped a brick on the wall. She gasped as the solid wall of bricks opened into an archway. Remus ushered Serena through. "Sorry to just yank you away like that," he said after the wall had closed up. "Those ministry men looked like they wanted to turn you into a toad and – Hey, you did magic! D'you know that?"

Serena raised her eyebrows. "Piping mad, you are."

Remus merely smiled. "A very likely possibility. But how do you explain that wand sticking to your hand, then?" She couldn't, and Remus grabbed her by the arm again before Serena could even contemplate and answer. He halfway dragged her to a dark building on the side of the rode. "Alohamora," he muttered, and the door jumped open as if alive.

Serena closed it behind them, not bothering to even ask at this point. Remus ran straight toward a fireplace at the back of the dark room. With a few waves of his wand thing, a raging fire filled the hearth. Now, a door springing open was one thing, but commanding a fire to light? "How- how did you -"

"Never mind that." Remus urged Serena to the fireplace. He reached into a vase atop the mantle and pulled out a fistful of powder, being careful not to let any slip through his fingers. He glanced nervously over his shoulder and threw the powder in the fire.

For a moment, Serena thought she was hallucinating. She thought she'd sent the very tips of the flame turn emerald. Then the whole fire began burning an eerie green.

"Step in now and say 'The Shrieking Shack- loud and clear," said Remus.

"What!"

"I promise, it isn't hot at all, see?" Remus thrust his arm into the flames. "Kind of tickles, actually. Just – please – trust me."

Serena sighed. He had saved her from those men back at the Leaky Cauldron….. and at this point, what did she have to lose? "Fine. This is insane," she muttered, bowing her head to step into the green fire.

Remus smiled soothingly, "Speak very clearly."

Goose bumps spread up Serena's arms as the tickling sensation began. The flames licked all the way up to her neck, momentarily paralyzing her mouth. "The Shrieking Shack," she yelled, thinking how much she wanted to shriek, herself. All at once, Remus became a whirl of colors as Serena spun faster and faster. Suddenly there was a rush of wind and Serena had the feeling that she'd just blasted off the ground and was now soaring or spinning (she couldn't be sure which) through a brilliant, multicolored sky. Well, it would have been brilliant if Serena weren't feeling so increasingly nauseous.

Right when Serena felt she was going to lose her dinner, the spinning colors stopped and she fell out of the fireplace onto her face. At first, it seemed to Serena that she had fallen out of the same fireplace and back into the dark room from before. But as her eyes began to adjust to the pitch-blackness, she realized the impossibility of that.

Serena had landed in some kind of bedroom of a musty house. On the wall directly in front of her, Serena could make out a large wardrobe. And directly to her right was a king-sized four-post bed with a shredded mattress on it. Serena pulled herself up on her knees.

There was a thud from the fireplace. "Remus?" she whispered.

"Yeah, I'm here. Can't see a bloody thing, though." The floorboards creaked ominously under Remus' weight as he walked out of the fireplace.

"Ouch!" Remus tripped over Serena's kneeled form and landed on top of her in a heap. "Sorry, here. Lumos." An orb of light formed around the end of Remus' wand and he pulled Serena to her feet. "Come on." His arm found its way to Serena's elbow and they were off yet again; through two other rooms anddown a flight of stairs that seemed to lead to some kind of basement.

As Serena stepped onto the floor, she realized she was not in a basement but a long, underground passageway. She craned her neck to find the end of the tunnel, but it was impossible to see by the dim light of Remus' wand.

After nearly fifteen minutes of walking through darkness, the shape of a stairway came into view. Serena sighed in relief. She was beginning to feel very trapped down here.

"Ok…" Remus murmured "Let me go first and then I'll, er, I'll tell you when it's safe."

_Safe_? He tucked his wand away and dashed u the stairs two at a time before Serena had a chance to question him.

"Now," Remus called after a minute or two. "Be quite quick about it, though." Serena obligingly jogged up the short flight of stairs.

She pulled herself up through a hole in a tree trunk and into the snowy night air. "Get a fair distance away," said Remus from behind Serena.

She whirled around to find him kneeling at the tree's bas, resting his hand firmly on a knot. "Should I even ask why?" said Serena.

Pleasantly surprised, Remus considered it with a half smile. "No, probably not."

Serena ventured about 30 feet away before she turned to watch her escort. Very slowly, he lifted his hand from the knot. Then, it was as if someone had pressed fast forward. Remus began sprinting at top speed. The tree above him gave a shudder and began shaking snow from its limbs. For a brief moment, it was completely still again. Then its branches began swinging much more violently….. at Remus. He dodged most of the tree limbs expertly until one caught him in the back of the leg and knocked him face first into the snow.

Serena screamed and ran to lift the poor man out of the snow, but the tree was quicker. It took a golf-style swing at Remus and sent his body flying through the air. He landed with a groan, just inches from Serena's feet. "Are you okay? Oh no- can you move? Should I get help? I'll go find help."

"No," Remus finally said, "don't, I'm fine. That tree's gotten the best of me on more than one occasion." He scrambled to his feet and looked over Serena's shoulder. "What do you see?" he asked, pointing atop the hill at Hogwarts.

It looked immaculate at night. Lights twinkled in only a few of the windows at this hour, making the castle all the more mysterious and wonderful. But if Serena was not a witch, she wouldn't see the wonders of Hogwarts. This was the ultimate test. If Serena was a muggle, she would see and abandoned, boarded up old shack of a house that was in great disrepair.

Serena turned her head and shifted her gazeto the topof thehill. From her reaction, Remus knew exactly what she saw. And it certainly wasn't a shack. She gasped and almost fell over backwards when Remus caught her. "We've been doing a little too much of the falling this evening." He paused when she didn't respond. "You see it, don't you?" Remus laughed at the entranced nod Serena gave him.

She was at a complete loss for words, an oddity to her, and had nearly forgotten to breathe.

"Let's go then."

"Go? Wait- Go where?" The thought of leaving this castle after so much traveling was enough to put words back on Serena's tongue.

Remus smiled calmly. "To find Dumbledore."

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A/N: hope you enjoyed! I'd really appreciate any feedback you might have, negative and positive. Even though I've grown a grand number of months older and wiser since I last updated, my sad life still is dependant upon reviews. For all you know, it could be the only spcial contact I've had in days... months... YEARS! but, of course, that's not really the case. It could be, though. 


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